


Epic

by Nival_Vixen



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Childhood Friends, Children, Claudia Stilinski Feels, Complete, Friendship, Jackson-Centric, Kindergarten, Light Angst, Male Friendship, POV Child, POV Stiles, Sad with a Happy Ending, Stiles Has Panic Attacks, Stiles-centric, Stilinski Family Feels, Whittemore Family Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-02
Updated: 2015-05-02
Packaged: 2018-03-26 18:56:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3860995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nival_Vixen/pseuds/Nival_Vixen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kindergarten was going to be <em>tough</em>, Stiles just knew it. But he had his friends Jackson and Danny there to help him get through.</p><p>Then his mum gets sick.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Epic

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story idea I've been playing around with for a while, and finally decided to write it. It is written from the point of view of Stiles (who is four years old at the start of this), and explains my brainspace/head!canon of what happened to that little boy in the years leading up to his mother's death. Not overly angsty, and kind of a happy ending? (Let me know if I should change the tags if you think otherwise!)

Starting kindergarten was going to be tough, Stiles  _knew_ it. It wasn’t just because he’d gotten both gum _and_  mud caked in his hair so badly that he’d needed to have it all shaved off two days before starting, but also because the kindergarten teacher was a mean old lady who expected him to already know his alphabet from A all the way down to Z, and he was trying but it was difficult for him to focus. His mummy and daddy had taken him to a doctor, and the doctor was nice, but talked over Stiles’ head instead of to him, so Stiles was surly and refused to answer the doctor’s questions. Still, he’d been told he had something called ADHD, and he had to take tablets. They tasted funny in his mouth, and he wanted to spit them out, but the water his mummy gave him helped. The medicine was supposed to help, the adults threw around words like dosages and prescriptions and trial runs, but for the first few days, all Stiles did after taking these tablets was sit in the lounge room, his head fuzzy like cotton wool. His mummy had had to sign almost a hundred different pieces of paper at the kindergarten just to leave his afternoon tablets there, and they were locked up in a high cabinet that Stiles thought he would _never_  be able to reach.

So, kindergarten would be tough, but he knew he’d get through it because he had his best friends Jackson and Danny right there with him. Jackson and Stiles had met on the playground in the park, and Stiles had taught Jackson all the Polish he knew after Jackson shared his fruit rollup (two words of Polish were a lot, but a fruit rollup was _epic._ And _sticky_ , as both of their mothers complained, handing scented wipes to each other across the bench). Danny lived on the same street as Jackson, and they’d been friends for even longer than Stiles and Jackson, but Danny was really nice and let Stiles share his toys and even let him be the kidnapper when they played kidnappers and hostages.

The first day of kindergarten started with Stiles determined to get all the way to Z in the alphabet without stopping for a breath, and in less than a minute, even the teacher seemed a little overwhelmed by how fast Stiles managed to recite his ABC’s. Stiles was proud, chest puffed out as he was awarded a bright gold star, and Jackson grinned at him happily across the table. Jackson had practised with Stiles and recited down to Z carefully, with only a slight stumble over LMNO, and receiving a gold star too. Danny was given a silver star, getting all the way to Q before he forgot the next letter. Stiles told himself silently that he would help his friend practice so he could get a gold star too. A red-headed girl, Lydia, stood up straight and proper when called upon. She not only recited her alphabet from A to Z, but before she could even take a breath upon finishing, she started reciting the alphabet _backwards_. Stiles gaped when she was awarded two gold stars. Jackson grinned at her even bigger than he had for Stiles, and Stiles didn’t blame him at all.

He was tired by the time he was picked up by his mummy after a full day of kindergarten, his eyes drooping and closing as they drove home, the noise of the tyres on asphalt lulling him to sleep. When they arrived home, it was a different story. Stiles felt wide awake after his nap, and proceeded to tell him mummy  _everything_  that had happened. She congratulated him on his gold star, making him feel happy even though he hadn’t been given two, and at his insistence, Claudia set up a play date ( _sorry, Zbigniew, a study date_ ) with both Jackson and Danny for later in the week. Stiles practised his Polish - he could say ten whole words now, and his mummy said he would even be able to have a full conversation with her in Polish if he practised enough. Stiles  _loved_  talking with his mummy because she  _always_  listened, even when others thought (or said) he was being silly, and she was sometimes just as silly as he could be. His daddy was busy trying to get a promotion at work, and there were some nights when he would come home and be so tired that he would fall asleep soon after dinner. Stiles made sure to tell his daddy everything important before he fell asleep, and because his mummy listened to him, she would sometimes remind him about things that even he had forgotten. His daddy always tried to seem interested even if he was a little tired, but Stiles got cranky if he didn’t have his nap, so he understood what his daddy felt like.

By the time Stiles could read his own book at night (Claudia only had to help with some of the really big words, but Stiles tried at least three times before he let her help), his daddy had been given a promotion at work. Stiles wasn’t sure why his daddy wanted a promotion if it made him even _more_  tired, but he figured he would understand when he was his daddy’s age. Still, there were enough people at the police station for his daddy to be home a bit more often than before, and Stiles’ eyes were wider than saucers the first time his daddy dropped him off at kindergarten in the real life police car. Stiles made his daddy wait so he could show Jackson and Danny; Jackson was jealous and Danny was very interested in the radio and large computer, but then a call came in over the radio and the newly appointed Sheriff had to leave.

Stiles’ school year was almost halfway through - and more importantly, his birthday was nearing - when his mummy started forgetting things. She would walk from one room to the next, talking to herself. After seeing her wandering around for almost thirty minutes, Stiles tugged on her dress to ask what was wrong. Claudia had looked at him and screamed so loudly that their next door neighbour had come running. Stiles worried that he had done something wrong, and was very, very quiet that afternoon until his daddy came home. His daddy tucked him in that night, and Stiles was too upset to remind him about a bedtime story, curling in on himself to try to block out the noise as he heard his parents arguing. It wasn’t the first time - working hard for his promotion had caused some strain between the Sheriff and Claudia, though that was all healed up now - but it was the first time Stiles felt as though it was all his fault.

Everyone in Stiles’ class was invited for his fifth birthday party, and his mummy spent all of Saturday morning preparing for the party on Sunday. Stiles helped as she made cupcakes (he got to lick the spoon clean, chocolate smearing his face), and was given the very important task of highlighting the shopping list for ingredients they needed (he even had different colours for different aisles at the grocery store; his mummy praised him for his efficiency, and Stiles tucked that word away to practise some more). When they went shopping, Stiles held onto Claudia’s skirt as they walked together, since he was too big to sit in the cart now. He frowned when his mummy stopped, staring at the list with wide eyes and a pale face. She turned to Stiles, held out the shopping list with a trembling hand, and asked him to read the list out to her by aisle order, as he’d coloured it. Stiles was surprised at the task, but did as he was asked and recited the list as they went down each aisle. Shopping took a lot longer that way, and his mummy still looked pale and upset by the end of it, but Stiles didn’t know what was wrong.

His party ended in tears. Claudia had left Stiles’ birthday cake in the oven for too long, a charcoal lump coming out of the oven with so much smoke that Stiles was tempted to call 911 like they had been practising at school. His daddy, who was home for Stiles’ birthday, took Claudia aside to see what was wrong, and they whispered things that Stiles strained to hear, but couldn’t. He wished he had super-hearing. Claudia smiled at Stiles with tears in her eyes, pulling him close to hug and kiss him, and said she would go out to buy him a cake and she was very sorry. Stiles immediately forgave her, and took his daddy’s hand as they stayed behind to prepare for the party. Stiles’ guests arrived, all armed with presents of different shapes and sizes, but Stiles was distracted. He had taken his medicine already, so it wasn’t ADHD, but the fact that his mother still hadn’t returned yet. Jackson and Danny sat on either side of him, and they didn’t seem to worry that his mummy was still out there buying a cake for him.

 _What if she had been hurt? What if a robber had tried to take all of her money? What if she had had a car accident? What if, what if_... Stiles didn’t know what happened. One second he was listening to Jackson and Danny arguing over who’d bought the best present for Stiles, and the next he was on the floor, gasping for breath. Then his daddy was there, clinging to him and trying to help him sit up properly, and worried parents were asking what the matter was but Stiles couldn’t tell them because he didn’t know. His father asked everyone in his firmest police voice to go home, and as his friends and classmates were leaving, Stiles gasped out for his mummy. His daddy nodded, murmuring things that Stiles didn’t hear properly as he bundled him up in his arms to carry him upstairs. Stiles was still feeling out of sorts, and only vaguely realised that they were in the bathroom. The front door bell rang loudly, and his daddy said a word that usually got him into trouble, leaving Stiles there half-dressed to run downstairs. Stiles heard Tara’s voice, the kind police lady who let him hold her handcuffs at the police station, and then he heard his mummy’s voice, gasping like he had only minutes before as she cried and said ‘I had no idea where I was, John. I couldn’t remember, I couldn’t remember the way home’. Those words made Stiles cry too, shivering and half-clothed in the bathroom as he sobbed into his bath towel.

His mummy went into hospital soon after that, and Stiles began to spend a lot more time in the hospital than out of it. Tests were run, doctors and nurses tried not to trip over Stiles, and no one seemed to have any idea what was wrong with his mummy. Then one of the doctors mentioned a disease, a specific disease that only hurt a certain part of the brain, and Stiles very seriously asked for a medical book from one of the nurses so he could look it up for himself. They gave him one, offering help if he needed it, but he shook his head and took it back to his mummy’s room instead. Claudia listened as Stiles said every word very carefully, probably mispronouncing half of the medical terminology but she doubted she would do much better herself, and Stiles smiled when she admitted that to him. Stiles waited until the nurse came around for the next check-up and asked her for the meaning of every word he didn’t understand. There were a lot.

Claudia was allowed to call home every other night, one of the nurses dialling the phone for her when the numbers slipped away or she forgot the number entirely, or both. Stiles didn’t get to talk as long on the phone, and sometimes Claudia wouldn’t recognise his voice, but most of the time Stiles spent listening to her stories. Wild stories from Poland, sometimes half of it was actually spoken in Polish and Stiles would struggle to keep up, but other times they were about fairies or wolves or any number of thing that she could think of. Sometimes Stiles hung up from the phone call with his head spinning, overwhelmed by the information she’d poured out to him. It was as though all of this had been hidden inside of her, and now it was bubbling and spilling out.

With all of the time Stiles spent at the hospital or worrying about his mother, he hadn’t always been around for Jackson and Danny. They didn’t seem to mind though, welcoming him back easily, and Jackson handed him an invitation for his fifth birthday. Stiles desperately wanted to go, especially after discovering that Jackson’s parents were getting a jumping castle _and_  had a swimming pool. Again, everyone in the class was invited, and Stiles just hoped he could go. His father agreed immediately, and even made sure he had the day off so they could buy Jackson’s birthday present beforehand. Stiles was so excited he told his mother everything before she could get a word in edgewise, and she laughed and said she was delighted to hear how excited he was, but could she talk to his mummy or daddy, please? Stiles’ excitement died down almost immediately and he pressed the phone into his daddy’s hand before running upstairs, refusing to let him see him cry.

Though Stiles was too young to understand, there were a few deaths in Beacon Hills a week later. The murders kept his father busy at the police station, and eventually, due to lack of evidence and the fact that the victims all looked to be mauled to death by wolves (in California?), the FBI sent an agent to help. In the hospital, however, Stiles discovered that his mother had a new nurse. Mrs. McCall was extremely friendly, though she didn’t answer Stiles when he asked about a bruise on her arm, and she soon introduced him to her own son. Scott was a frail thing, smaller than Stiles despite being the same age, and because of spring, pollen, and his asthma, Scott was often in the hospital needing an oxygen mask. Stiles thought Scott seemed nice enough, always smiling, even with the oxygen mask on, but he wasn’t Jackson or Danny, even if he did kind of sound like Darth Vader.

Stiles went out with his daddy to buy Jackson’s birthday present (they found the _perfect_  present, and Stiles couldn’t wait to see Jackson’s face when he opened the VHS tapes of _Star Wars_ because he liked them just as much as Stiles did), and when they arrived home to get dressed and wrap the present, there was a message waiting on the answering machine for them. Claudia had wandered out of the hospital without being seen, no one knew how or when or even why, but Mrs. McCall raised the alarm when she realised that her patient was missing. His daddy apologised and organised for Tara to look after Stiles as he rushed out to help the others on his force find his wife. Stiles looked at the three VHS tapes he’d been planning to give to Jackson, and before Tara arrived to babysit him, Stiles left the house, determined to give his friend his present.

Stiles, of course, being only five years old, and not being accompanied by an adult, wasn’t allowed on a bus by himself. He had no money for one anyway, and he ran off, clutching the tapes tightly before the bus driver could stop him. He was sure that Jackson only lived a few blocks away - it took fifteen minutes in the car - and he was positive that he could run that far without a problem. He made it four blocks before Tara found him, scooped him up, and put him in the front seat of her cruiser. She normally would have berated him for running off, and she was lucky that she’d thought he’d be heading to Jackson’s party, but Stiles was already sobbing big fat tears, and she couldn’t bring herself to scold the boy. Worn out from his mini-adventure, worried about his mother, and barely placated by Tara’s suggestion to make a card and give Jackson his gift on Monday, Stiles was fast asleep by the time his daddy returned. His mother had been found, barefoot and in the forest, and when questioned, she’d simply said that she had been looking for wolves.

Jackson _hated_ him for missing out on his party, Stiles knew it. He hadn’t said a word all day, and when Stiles tried to apologise using the words Tara had told him, Jackson had just pushed past him and gone to the bathroom. He didn’t even ask the teacher to leave, so he got a scolding when he returned, and Jackson glared at Stiles as if it was all his fault. Danny looked confused and sad all day, and Stiles was sure that he looked the same. In the end, Stiles left the wrapped VHS tapes in Jackson’s pigeonhole along with his home-made birthday card, and ran outside to go home.

Stiles begged his daddy to be dropped off early the next morning, and he agreed as long as Stiles got up on time. Stiles was up so early that they arrived to the school a few minutes before the cleaners. While his daddy was talking with one of the cleaners, Stiles peeked in Jackson’s pigeonhole to see that the VHS tapes were gone. He felt a sigh of relief, and as he turned to go back over to his daddy, Stiles saw that his birthday card was in the bin, ripped in half and scrunched up. Stiles declared that he wasn’t well and wanted to see his mummy, and while he hated to see the heartbroken expression on his daddy’s face, Stiles didn’t want to see Jackson again  _even more_. Reluctant but helpless, his daddy drove him to the hospital, explaining to Mrs. McCall that Stiles wasn’t well today and wanted to spend some time with Claudia. He kissed both Stiles and Claudia goodbye, Claudia smiling a little weakly but recognising her son today at least, and left to help Agent McCall solve the murders.

Stiles stayed with his mother all day, listening to her stories as she spoke in quiet soft tones. The stories weren’t as rushed as they were on the phone, but they were just as mind-spinning, and Stiles nodded seriously when she told him that wolves weren’t dangerous creatures if you respected them. Stiles stayed by her side the whole time, not wandering as he usually did, and held her hand for the entire day. He continued to hold his mummy’s hand, a smile on her lips as she called him Zbigniew one final time, and Claudia took her last breath. Stiles’ crying brought Mrs. McCall running, and she held him tightly as he cried and screamed and mourned as loudly as possible, so loud that his mummy’s wolves would have heard.

The next year passed in a blur for Stiles. He refused to talk to Jackson, even when Jackson tried to offer sympathy for his mother, and Danny stuck with Jackson because they were friends first. After Agent McCall returned to the FBI in Washington, Mrs. McCall and Scott stayed in Beacon Hills. Scott was even allowed to go to school, his asthma not causing as many problems so long as he didn’t run too fast or far, and Stiles stayed with his _new_ best friend. His father never questioned why he didn’t play with Jackson anymore, and tight-lipped for once, Stiles never explained.

He spent more time with his father, sleeping curled up in his bed, sometimes even if he wasn’t home. He also spent more time trying to think of creative ways to hide his father’s favoured tumbler since he couldn’t reach the whisky itself. Stiles started listening to the police scanner with a determination that amused the other police officers. He read the comics that Tara brought for him, fascinated by the words and pictures, and soon decided that Batman was his favourite. Stiles could be like Batman, even if he wasn’t an orphan.

Stiles’ ADHD medication had to be changed, the new one tiring him to the point that he needed a day off school just to get used to the new dosage. He slept for most of the day, only waking when he could have sworn he heard the howl of wolves halfway through the day. It made him think of his mother, and he hugged his pillow tight as he sobbed himself to sleep. That night when his father returned home, he held Stiles close, and told him that there had been a fire. The Hale family - bar two children and a comatose uncle - had died. Stiles held his father tighter, thinking again about his mother, and the Sheriff didn’t complain when Stiles curled up in his bed again that night.

Sometimes, Stiles would think back to those years before his mother’s death, to when he and Jackson were friends, to a time when their mothers could fix everything and their fathers were their heroes. He wonders how different things would have been if Stiles had known about Jackson’s adoption, if he had understood why Jackson tore up the birthday card, if he’d let Jackson hug and console him after his mother’s death. Stiles wonders if they would still be friends if they’d let each other in instead of pushing the other away so fiercely and completely. Maybe they would have had a falling out over Lydia, or Danny, or something else all together. He thinks of Jackson in London, and wonders if it’s possible that they could try their friendship again. Stiles doesn’t know if they can get past their school years, but he thinks that if they tried again, they might just be able to have a friendship as epic as a fruit rollup shared in a park.

...

The end.

Thanks for reading!


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